Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visits Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Feb. 17, 2026.Marco Simoncelli/AFP via Getty Images

Erdoğan rejects Israel’s Armenian genocide recognition, points to Gaza deaths – POLITICO

by · POLITICO

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hit back at Israel on Tuesday after the country unanimously voted on Sunday to formally recognize the Armenian genocide.

The recognition and the subsequent spat is the latest episode in a worsening relationship between the two countries, which has taken a nosedive with Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.

“We do not give the slightest heed to the slanders about our country from the murder network that has the blood of 73,000 innocent Gazans, most of them children and women, on its hands,” Erdoğan said after a cabinet meeting. “In our history there is no genocide, no massacre, no oppression, and no colonialism.”